"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Arne Duncan, Extortionist

extortion |ikˈstôrSHən|nounthe practice of obtaining something, esp. money, through force or threats.In California, where corporate legislators have decided to suspend NCLB testing for one year while they implement a new generation of racist tests using the new testing delivery system, the Common Core, Arne Duncan is on the scene, threatening to withhold Title I money if California moves forward:

The lack of test scores attracted Duncan's criticism.

"Letting an entire school year pass for millions of students
without sharing information on their schools’ performance with them and their
families is the wrong way to go about this transition," he said in a
statement. "No one wants to over-test, but if you are going to support all
students’ achievement, you need to know how all students are doing."

Duncan declined to specify what action he would take, and in fact, the
federal government has no direct authority over state school systems. But the
department controls billions of dollars in federal funds, which can make up
about 10% of a school district's budget. This money adds up to about $600
million a year for Los Angeles Unified, according to the district.

"If California moves
forward with a plan that fails to assess all its students, as required by
federal law, the department will be forced to take action, which could include
withholding funds," Duncan said.

Can you imagine, a year without the annual cranial
vice attached to everyone’s head? Could
people start to remember what it was like just a dozen years ago, before the
annual ritual to kill imagination and thinking?